This invention relates to automatic computer upgrading.
The user of a computer system (e.g., a stand-alone PC or a network) is usually concerned with maintaining maximum utility and efficiency of system resources while at the same time minimizing the cost, in time, money and frustration, of maintaining the system. System resources, e.g., system firmware, software applications, operating systems (OS), OS drivers and system partition utilities, are frequently upgraded by the manufacturer. Therefore, to effectively balance system utility with the costs of the system, the user frequently would have to perform a detailed analysis of the available upgrades and the effect those upgrades would have on the user's system.
During such an analysis, the user would have to compare the version number of each system resource to that of its upgrade to determine whether or not an upgrade is available. When an upgrade is available, the user would have to understand the differences between the system version of the resource and the corresponding upgrade, as well as how these differences would affect (i.e., improve or diminish) the capabilities of the computer system.
Even when the user is able to determine with accuracy the benefits of an upgrade to the system, the user is almost never able to determine how an upgrade will impact a resource that is not upgraded. It is not uncommon for an upgrade to reduce the ability of a resource to properly function with another resource. In addition, upgrades often exist solely to repair hidden bugs which may not have surfaced on the user's system, a situation in which the user almost always ignores the upgrade until the bug is encountered, usually resulting in lost information.
Many resource manufacturers address some of these problems by making certain aspects of the upgrade determination easier for the user. The NetWare Management System by Novell inspects network loadable modules (NLMs) on a network server to determine the current version of the NLM, its most recent revision level, and the revision date. Thus, NMS not only tells the user which resources are currently on the system, but also provides information that allows the user to easily determine whether or not upgrades are available. Likewise, the Frye Utilities NetWare Management program provides the titles and version numbers of NLMs on the server. Manufacturers also usually provide descriptions of the changes made from one version of a resource to the next. Nevertheless, despite the availability of this type of information, the user, in general, either never upgrades or upgrades whether it is needed or not.